Highway 8

[hardrockminer]

We rode Hwy 8 from Merrtt to Spences Brdge for the first time since it washed out.  It's been open for quite a while but tales of gravel have put us off.  But today we went because we had heard it was all paved.  The Merritt end is good because it's mostly up high enough to have not been washed out.  But the final 20 km into Spences Bridge runs along the edge of the river and was basically destroyed.  And no...it's not yet paved except for the bits that didn't get washed out.  But the gravel is good hard packed and dust suppressed, so we are glad we took the chance despite having to ride on gravel.  You can see in spots how high the river reached up the old river bank.  It must have been quite the flood!  And in some bits the new road is actually lower than the old one, so it's exposed to any future floods. 

[rz5mark]

According to the TNRD director the road will be as it was before when fully repaired/replaced at a higher elevation it won't cross over where the gravel is.